Thursday, November 29, 2007

Mojitos in Havana, Caiparinhas in Rio, Pisco in Chile, Arak in Beirut, Lychee Martinis in Thailand... I find memories of exotic cocktails and local liquors, generally sipped in equally exotic locations - an atmospheric fort in old Havana, a beachside cafe on Copacabana Beach, sunset over a dramatic Atacama desert landscape, a nightclub on New Years Eve in Jounieh, and a bar overlooking Burma (in that order) - to be almost as inspiring as foreign food experiences. Admittedly the liquid memories are more hazy. For obvious reasons. Are there 'booze blogs' out there that might inspire me to travel as much as those mouthwatering food blogs I wrote about, I wonder? We recently drank shots of sweet, strong Thai whiskey with a Shaman's father in a hill tribe village in Thailand (the Shaman was at work in the fields), and the warmth that dashed through my body, and the smile that darted to my lips, after a sip of the potent brew is something I won't forget easily. Do I long to return to the Shaman's hut to share some more shots? Probably not. But it's the opportunity to have similar kinds of heady experiences that inspires me to travel. What about you?

4 comments:

Ah, takes me back to my first mojito in Havana...In Paris I loved a Kir (cassis + white wine) or a "demi-fraise" (a bit of strawberry syrup in a Kroenenburg beer), and there was a similar "red" or "green" drink in Berlin called the Berliner Kindl Weisse.

Yes! Spritz in Italy, but Limoncello in the south, Kir Royal in France, Ouzo in Greece... they all remind me of summers in the sun, sitting in a square somewhere... do you end up buying bottles of the stuff to take home? Most of the time I used to spend the first few weeks back mixing my drinks in the evening... but eventually I used to find myself drifting back into the same old routine of a glass of white wine... I also have fond memories of buying beers from Baboushkas in Red Square... and drinking caiparinhias at an outdoor cafe on a shiny marble square in Dubrovnik...

Trying a different beer every day in Belgium. Then after a month settling on Chimay Blanche (Chimay Triple) as my favourite tipple. Shame it's nearly always triple the price outside Belgium. Guess that's a good enough excuse to go back...

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About Me

A perpetual globetrotter and travel writer who has experienced over 60 countries, authored 40+ guidebooks, and published 100s of articles for National Geographic Traveler, Wanderlust, Paperplane, Get Lost, Lifestyle+Travel, Voyageur, Hemispheres, The Independent, Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Insight, Thomas Cook, AA Guides, Fodors, USA Today, and more. This blog is about the things that are cool (and not so cool) about travel, that inspire us to travel, and that are inspiring about the places we visit. It's a space for me to reflect upon my work as a travel writer, the travel media, travel publishing, and travel industry.